Dianne was curled up in a den, attempting to catch up on lost sleep when a summoning howl sounded. Well, she hadn't been getting far with it, anyway. Crawling out of her little hole, she trotted towards the source of the sound, soon realizing they were at those strange stones. Once she arrived, Dianne saw someone she did not recognize: a chocolate-grey wolfess with hazel eyes. How the woman held herself denoted that this was the alpha she'd heard about, Valette. She certainly looked the part, but did she play it well? She'd have to find out.

Hello, She greeted with a dip of her head. My name is Dianne. You are the alpha, correct?

So the alpha's name was Valette. Dianne would make sure not to forget it. It's a pleasure to meet you as well, Valette, She returned mostly for the sake of not being rude. Valette then asked if there was a specific reason for her joining. Dianne appreciated the wording of this question because it could be answered simply and implied that the alphess was fine with her not having some grandiose, long-winded reason for joining a pack when winter was approaching. So, she answered simply with: It seemed nice enough and I needed a place to stay.

Valette's attention was earned by something in the distance, so Dianne followed her gaze. The burly beasts stampeded away from some unknown cause, their combined heavy footsteps audible even from so far away. The alphess explained that they were the pack's bison herd. Ah, so that's what they were called. Conversationally, Dianne glanced back at Valette and asked, Do you hunt them? She'd thought the feat impossible with their impressive size and numbers, but maybe these wolves would prove her wrong.

Dianne's brows shot up when Valette confirmed her pack did, in fact, hunt those beasts, even going on to say they'd succeeded in doing so recently. Impressive, She admitted, because it truly was — and Dianne was not easily impressed. The alphess went on to shed some light on how they managed to do it, but even when panicked, she imagined it'd be too dangerous to pull off without any casualties. Well, she'd been proven wrong. That earned this pack a lot of respect from her, especially since everyone here seemed weirdly peace-loving. They must not've been total pushovers when push came to shove.

"Do you like hunting?" Valette then asked. She pondered the answer to that question for a moment, as she'd never really thought about it before. Hunting was just something you had to do whether you liked it or not.

I guess I do. It's rewarding when you succeed and useful to be good at, Dianne thought aloud. I'd like to hone my hunting skills further, but I can't see myself hunting bison, She added, being more than aware of her small size. Dianne tacked that last sentence on just to see if Valette would offer to teach her what she knew. She'd be willing to take on deer, but bison were out of the question.

When she mentioned improving their hunting skills together, Dianne said, I'd love to. She exaggerated her enthusiasm there with a faint smile to boot just for good measure.

Oh god, Valette really expected her to toss herself into the fray with one of those things? Did this lady not see how small she was? Hell no. It took several hours to kill one? Well, that wasn't too surprising, given that she honestly thought they became basically immortal once fully-grown. But hell if she'd spend more than five minutes in the vicinity of even one bison. Stamina and strength were traits Dianne simply wasn't gifted with. While glad Valette offered to mentor her, she was still learning how to tackle small creatures, let alone beings so large and imposing she thought them immortal until just moments ago.

Maybe if we start a little smaller first, Dianne replied with the ghost of a grin and a sideways glance. It was almost like a deal: teach her how to hunt something smaller, and maybe she'll give bison a try. Maybe.

Thankfully, Valette accepted her proposal. "Sure, what would you feel comfortable hunting?" She asked. Perfect.

I've only ever hunted small prey, but I'm willing to tackle deer, Dianne explained. She figured Valette would be especially useful in teaching her how to take them down. Deer were still a bit intimidating to her due to her small size, and she didn't stick around for pack hunts in her previous pack. But there was a world of difference between deer and bison, and the former seemed easier to tackle by far.

Dianne nodded at Valette's tip about deer. They were no bison, but they still weren't pushovers, either. She was surprised to hear the alphess offer to track one down right this moment but wouldn't complain; she had nothing better to do. She may as well extract as much knowledge from these wolves as she could before inevitably leaving.

I would like that, Dianne replied softly. Brushing up on tracking was never a bad thing, and maybe Valette would give more pointers once they had a deer in sight. Shall we? She asked before lowering her snout to sift through the scents there, moving along at a steady clip with Valette presumably nearby. Bison was the first thing that jumped out at her, but as she continued to sift, she identified various smaller creatures, eventually finding deer.

I smell some in the meadow. Maybe they followed the bison, Dianne thought aloud, lifting her head when she spoke to glance at Valette.